Seattle, WA

Row 2 (L to R): Larry Ezell-Ray, Me’Kya Safford, Liliana Calimlim, Gina Hamilton, Mayra Cruz Gomez, Marita Grunfeld, Jeromie Heath, Tami Gianacos, Candida Crane, Ramona Peace, Sandra Scott (Principal), Elissa Flanzer, Marcela Serritos

Bridging Unity and a Sense of Belonging

Hawthorne Elementary School regularly conducts an African American Parents Coffee and Chat.  This year, the family support worker, partnership team, principal, teachers, and African American parents set an ambitious, creative, and motivating agenda to reduce and, ultimately, eliminate the achievement gap between groups of students at the school.  To start, a local African American artist planned a series of six paintings—one for each grade level (K-5) at Hawthorne.  Teachers asked every student to draw one important thing about his or her life and culture.  The artist collected the children’s drawings and used them in six paintings entitled Cultures of Hawthorne.  Each student was invited to paint on the picture and sign their names.

Other activities celebrated African American’s contributions to the quality of life in the community, including an MLK Assembly and a Black History Assembly with performances from students and community members. At the end of the month, parents were invited to a discussion on Cultivating the Genius of Black Children. A presenter discussed children’s learning styles and how children’s histories and talents affect learning.  Parents gathered many ideas to support children’s learning.

At Hawthorne’s National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID), parents came for breakfast, presentations, and lunch with their children.  Musical groups performed and community partners had booths to share information on their services for families and students.  African American parents rotated through students’ classrooms to discuss their careers.  Their various jobs included a rapper, bakery owner, black history historian, film and skit director, artist, and coast guard member.

This activity is featured in Promising Partnership Practices 2018.

Run, Jump, Dance…Zumba

Based on feedback from the school’s coffee chats, the partnership team learned that many families wanted to learn more about fitness and nutrition.  They wanted information on healthy eating choices, modifying culturally celebrated foods with healthy ingredients, and creating more safe spaces for students’ physical activities.  To respond to parents’ requests, two activities were scheduled.

The school nurse conducted a session on School-Age Health with Q & A for parents and students.  Later in the year, Family Health and Fitness Night was sponsored by Molina Healthcare—a family and community health services provider. The PE teacher and many community partners set up activities for students and parents.  Two martial arts groups performed and 10 community vendors displayed resources and free health and fitness items throughout the cafeteria. Families had passports stamped as they visited the booths and participated in activities.  Among these were blood pressure checks by the school nurse and Coast Guard; Twister by a local chiropractor; volleyball; juggling; and more.  A healthy dinner was provided to all participants. The evening ended with everyone enjoying Zumba together.